In the April issue of Her Nashville Magazine, your Chic Geek discusses life’s truly important things, like maintaining an empty inbox and a tidy desktop. That’s right: ’tis the season for Spring Geeking! So, grab that mouse and get to it. Here’s a sneak peek at some pointers:

Zero Out Your Inbox
When I say “zero,” I mean as close to empty as possible. An inbox shouldn’t be a to-do list or a catch-all filing cabinet.

Put Your Desktop on a Diet
Can I just tell you how much my heart hurts when I see a gal’s desktop and it looks like the Word doc fairy got drunk with a bunch of PowerPoint presenters and they threw up on each other? If that description conjured up a mental picture of your own Dell or MacBook desktop, it’s time to drag and drop. Read More…

Her Nashville Geek Graphic, June 2009

There must be something in the water here in DC. Lately, quite a few folks have asked me how to begin getting organized. My first answer is usually: make one huge to-do list.  That’s usually followed up by me loaning you a copy of David Allen’s Getting Things Done. If I’ve not yet made you read it, no worries. It’s coming.

But honestly, making lists and reading great advice isn’t going to help you if you haven’t made a pact with yourself to stick to it. It’s tough because, at first, living an organized, task-driven existence takes a lot of discipline until it becomes an actual habit. And that takes a good month or so.

Here’s how it usually goes down: you’ll be an organization rock star for the first week, but will then find yourself slipping back into post-it notes and double-booked-induced panic attacks by week three. Don’t let that sway you. Just sit down, consolidate all the brain clutter into one master to-do list, and start all over again.

I keep myself on track using tricks from both GTD and Bit Literacy, which is the book that introduced me to Goo To Do. I’m on year two of using this online to-do list; I can’t even tell you how much I love it.

Of course, I totally dig the fact that folks come to me for this sort of advice. Your questions and successes have been great inspiration for my Her Nashville columns; please keep them coming!

What about you? Are you well-organized guy/gal? Share your tips and tricks in the comments!

I’m routinely asked what the heck Chic Geek is and what it has to do with FlackRabbit. And well, nothing, really. It’s actually a separate technology and productivity writing gig for Her Nashville magazine. It’s a true honor to be a contributor – it is also the fulfillment of a New Year’s resolution!

I link to the Chic Geek blog posts on my homepage and usually link to the online version of my monthly column as soon as it’s posted.  I don’t pull a feed of those print columns on my site, but here are the links to a couple of my favorites: Read More…

Have you seen/downloaded/squealed-out-loud about the brand-spanking-new Productive Magazine?

The pub’s name alone was enough to catch my eye. Then I saw the bright shiny object that is David Allen and I was sold. If you are into tips and to-do lists, go grab you a copy. It’s free; and if you don’t print it off you’ll be saving some trees.

If you’d rather be shot than read something like this, then at least check out the 17 Things You Should Stop Doing. It’s a quick, helpful read.

I’ll be soaking in the 33 pages of geekish goodness over the holidays, but had to share my pre-read excitement. It’s like they peered into my itty bitty self, had an editorial meeting and then produced a magazine just for Team Newman.

Oh, and if electronic reading isn’t your cup of tea, no worries; you can order a color or black/white copy on LuLu.

Hope it’s actually good!

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